Psalms 98:6: “With trumpets and the sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the king.”

Ok, let me get this straight. The KJV was translated in the 17th Century, but the cornet did not appear until the 19th Century? Someone explain to me how the word cornet managed to make its way into the KJV. Well, here’s the real scoop, the word in the Hebrew for cornet is shofar. We all know what a shofar is, I see Christians all the time running around with a rams horn giving a toot at the most inappropriate times and believe me it does not sound like Harry James on his cornet. Most Christians can tell you what a shofar is, but not many can tell you its purpose.

It is interesting that the KJV renders the word qol as sound for the sound of a shofar. In the hands of a skilled musician the shofar can actually sound musical, but mostly what I hear from the shofar around the circles I have been in is just a noise. Actually, the true meaning or rendering for qol is a voice. In this context a voice is used to communicate the expressions of your heart. Unfortunately most music today consist of drums, keyboards and electric guitars and you rarely have the opportunity to hear music from a cornet other than just as back up music or a high school band. The cornet is not an easy instrument to play, at least in the sense of giving it a voice. By voice I mean something from an artist. Harry James who performed in the 30’s and 40’s was such an artist. You might want to check out You Tube and listen to Harry James Play: “You Made Me Love You” on his cornet. It almost sounds like a voice. A violin in the hands of Isaac Stern or a guitar played by Chet Atkens all were given a voice. It expressed the deep passions of the artist.

When I sit down to play the piano I try to give it a voice. Of course only I can hear that voice as I play because when I play no one is listening and if someone does listen, they tend to hear something other than a voice. But the joy of playing the piano is trying to give it qol or voice. That voice may say: “Be happy.:” It might say: “Be sad.” It may convey the message of “Be at peace.” A musical instrument in the hands of one who knows how to translate his passions into the sounds of his musical instrument can give that instrument a voice. That is what an artist does. So too, a shofar in the hands of a skilled artist can express his passion for God. In that way he is correctly using the shofar to give it a voice. In the Western world we tend to just make a noise. We are commanded to make a joyful noise to the Lord. The word noise in this passage, however is not qol. It is the word hariu from the root word rua’. In late Hebrew it is the sound of a horn but in its Semitic root it was a Canaanite word for a battle cry or a call to action. It is a revelry, sometimes it is musical most of the time it is not. In basic training during WWII my father told me that a man in their unit was a cornet player in civilian life so he was given the job of playing revelry every morning. He did quite well for the first few days but after a few days the men began to notice a little extra in the revelry. Before long the old boy was playing a good portion of the William Tell Overture (think the Lone Ranger). Eventually the CO relieved the poor musician of his duty and he was replaced with a phonograph record playing revelry. Their DI explained that revelry was meant to call the men to action, not to enjoy and mediate on. In other words rua’ is not meant to be musical, just a cry of action. The cornet or shofar, however, was meant to be musical, musical in the sense that it has a voice.

I recall attending a prayer meeting where some old boy brought a shofar. He was under the impression that there was some spiritual significance to just blowing or rua’ making a noise and doing it at inappropriate times. For instance I was at the altar really intense in my prayer when this ungifted musician came up behind me and let out a blast on his shofar. It was not musical qol it was a noise rua’- It scared the bejeebers out of me. I came out of my deep communion with God with a rua’ of my own as I screamed: “Rapture!!!”

I find it interesting to note that this passage does not say make a noise with a shofar but a a qol or voice. The word shofar is spelled Shin, Vav, Pei and Resh. The Shin represents a fiery passion, The Vav connects this passion to the Pei which represents a mouth and the Resh represents repentance or turning away from something. In fact the primary purpose of the shofar is to call the people to repentance, or to turn away from the things of this world and put you passions on God. Last month the shofar was sounded during Rosh Hashanah. It was a call to turn away from your sins of the past year and enter into a new year with God.

Another definition of shofar is to shine or make bright. When a shofar is given a voice that is when it is blown by someone who draws from deep within himself, deep within his own darkness he helps to bring his passion for God into the daylight for others as well as himself. (Not to beat the daylights out of the person making a rua’ like the guy in that prayer meeting).

A trumpet is just blown, it makes a rua’. The Hebrew word for trumpet is chasar and comes from the idea of gathering together. It is the word used for a village or hamlet where people are grouped together to live. The trumpet is nothing more than a bugle used to make a noise to bring people together, like it did for my father and his outfit in basic training. I attended a high school football game some time ago and I noticed as the clock begin we heard the sound of a horn, like a fog horn announcing the start of the game. It was a rua’ a call to action. That horn would be the chasar, just a noise maker with no musical intent. It had no voice, it was the result of no passion, just some air pumped through a tube. It didn’t matter if someone blew through the tube or there was an artificial source of air blown through the tube, it achieved its purpose. A shofar, however, cannot use an artificial source of air, it must come from inside a person, just as the air blown in a cornet. For the purpose of a shofar, as with a cornet, is to give a voice to one‘s inner passions.

If you play a musical instrument, I encourage you to give it a voice, a melody, not just a noise to enhance your own voice, but a voice from the very depth of your soul so that those listening to that instrument can hear the passion, the love, and the joy of your Savior. If you wish to blow a shofar, give it a qol or voice and don’t sneak up behind someone intense in prayer and scare the bejeebers out of him.